“I was just running down Embankment when I just saw this bloke struggling,” the 25-year-old said.

“I just kept saying to him ‘come on, we are not that far away now’ but he started to struggle even more, he almost fell over so I managed to put my arm around him. He was mumbling about ‘sub four hours’, which is the time most runners aim to complete the marathon in, and I kept saying ‘we are almost there, we can do it’.”

Quinton Fortune at the London Marathon (Image: Getty Images)

But Fortune, who was a member of the United side which scooped the title in 2002-03, took a turn for the worse with around 600 metres to go.

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“He fell, and took me down with him, a marshal came over and helped me get him back up and the marshal and I literally carried him to the finishing line. I was hurting myself, I had injured my left foot, but I kept thinking how devastating it would be for him (Fortune) to have put so much effort into it and not to make it to the finishing line.

“I also kept thinking that, if I was in the same situation, I would like someone to help me too. It is all about getting to the finish line and I was determined to help him.”

It did not dawn on Tommy, who works in rehabilitation at the Pingles Leisure Centre and in Coventry, that he helped out a former footballing star until they almost reached the line.

“In all fairness, he was incoherent, I have never seen anyone like it, but I could hear people chanting his name and I looked at his top and realised it was him and he was running for the Manchester United foundation,” said the Leicester City FC fan.

“I didn’t really think about it until this morning, I would have helped anyone out who was struggling, it just happened to be him.”